This study was aimed to investigate the direct and indirect effect of social support on mental and physical health which was analyzed according to a structural equation modeling method in a propositional model. The target populations of this research were undergraduate students of Tarbiat Moallem University. Three hundred and twenty students (188 females, 132 males) were included in this study who were selected using multi-stage cluster sampling method. All students were asked to complete College Academic Self-efficacy Scale (CASEA, Owen & Fronman, 1988), Social Support Inventory (SSA, Sameti, Najarian & Shokrkon, 1997), Students Stressors Questionnaire (SSQ, Pooladyereyshahri, 1995) and Mental and Physical Health Questionnaire (SF-36 Version 2, Ware, 1996). The results of this study revealed that a higher level of mental and physical health was accompanied with both by higher level of social support and academic self-efficacy, and low level of academic stress. Also, relationship between social support and mental and physical health was mediated by academic self-efficacy and academic stress. The relationship between academic self-efficacy and mental and physical health was mediated by academic stress. All of the relations between the variables were statistically significant, and model's predictors' variables accounted for 0.194 of the mental and physical health variance. Results and implications are discussed.

Keywords: social support, academic self-efficacy, academic stress, mental-physical health

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